I, from the Celestial Empire, have parachuted into Teyvat.

Just as Ivan was about to offer a few more words of advice, Zhongli suddenly said, "But you don't need to worry. I did initially have the Fools under Ice God's command complete the test for the people of Liyue for me, and then give them the Heart of God as a reward. But after you arrived at Liyue Harbor, I gave up on that idea. I think you are more suitable for this task than the Fools. You don't really think I'm trying to please both sides with one thing, do you?"

At this point, Zhongli gave a slightly playful smile.

Ivan hesitated for a moment. He had indeed thought that Zhongli had given the Heart of God to both him and the Ice God at the same time, but now, listening to Zhongli's words, it seemed that this was not the case.

Zhongli continued, "However, although I have long since signed a contract with the Ice God, this contract can be changed with the consent of both of us."

Ivan raised an eyebrow and said, "So you can change the contract's compensation to something else?"

Zhongli shook his head and said, "That's impossible. The Ice Goddess only wants my Heart of God. She will not agree to change the reward."

Ivan considered changing the contract terms to something even the Ice God couldn't accomplish, but then he thought, the Ice God isn't stupid; why would he agree if he couldn't do it himself?

Thinking of this, Ivan frowned, but Zhongli suddenly said, "There's no need to think about this anymore, I've already revised the contract."

Ivan was stunned: "You've finished modifying it? How is that possible? What did you do that made the Ice God agree to let you change the contract?"

Zhongli took a sip of tea and smiled, "The reason why the Ice God agreed to let me change the contract is because I only added one word to the original contract, changing the condition from 'Complete the test for the people of Liyue and you will obtain the Heart of God' to 'The one who completes the test for the people of Liyue will obtain the Heart of God'."

After listening to Zhongli's words, Ivan clicked his tongue and thought to himself, "You're really cunning, Rock God."

Oh, I shouldn't say it's sinister, I should say it's cunning and calculating.

Although Zhongli's change to the condition was simply adding the word "Zhe" (者), and on the surface it seemed like there was no change, the original contract only included the Ice God and his affiliated forces. Adding the word "Zhe" instantly expanded the scope of the contract to include anyone. Anyone who could complete the test for the people of Liyue could obtain the Heart of God.

Zhongli successfully tricked Bingshen this time.

Ivan gave a thumbs up.

Zhongli laughed and said, "Although I have modified the contract, I still need you to complete it before the Fools."

Ivan said, "I understand."

After talking with Zhongli, Ivan returned to the inn.

The situation is now basically clear: if we want to complete the contract before the lady, then we just need to sabotage her.

This would not only stop the lady, but also allow them to follow her lead to uncover the hidden demons and resolve the crisis in Liyue.

Ivan acted swiftly. He contacted the young master and had his trusted confidant, who had been following the lady, lead the way. The group raided the secret cave in Lonely Cloud Pavilion, directly east of Liyue Harbor, but when they arrived, they found the cave deserted and empty.

Standing in the empty cave, Ivan frowned.

Because he possessed the heart of the Wind God, Ivan was able to sense the aura of destruction more keenly than others. Judging from the residual aura of destruction in the cave, it was indeed once filled with stones of destruction.

Ivan squinted and said, "This must be a two-pronged plan by the lady. On one hand, she had the young master create the 'Unfettered Talisman,' and on the other hand, she collected the Stone of Destruction. If one of them went wrong, the other could still release the Vortex Demon God. This is probably why she sought cooperation with other demon gods..."

Ivan felt he had guessed the truth.

"But where did all these Destruction Stones come from?"

Ivan had previously heard Ningguang say that although the Stone of Destruction would still appear in various corners of Liyue from time to time, the Thousand Rock Army had a special Stone of Destruction collection unit that patrolled all over Liyue 24 hours a day. Once a Stone of Destruction was found, it would be collected and handed over to the Jade Capital for centralized management. Ordinary people could not come into contact with the Stone of Destruction.

Xiang Feng walked over and asked suspiciously, "Commander Yi, there's a lot of malevolent energy in this cave. Could it be that one of those 'Stones of Destruction' was stored there before?"

Although Xiang Feng didn't have Ivan's ability to directly perceive the aura of destruction, his years of fighting on the battlefield had given him the ability to sense different atmospheres in the air. Although it was a bit mystical, Xiang Feng did have the same feeling he had when he saw the Stone of Destruction before.

Ivan nodded and said, "Yes, this place used to be filled with Destruction Stones."

"Pile it up?" Xiang Feng clicked his tongue. "This cave is so big, how many Destruction Stones would it take to fill it up? I could buy ten cartloads of cabbages at the market and still not fill this place."

Upon hearing Xiang Feng's words, Ivan was stunned for a moment, then immediately grabbed Xiang Feng and asked urgently, "What did you just say?"

Xiang Feng was a little confused: "Uh, I was wondering how many Destruction Stones it would take to fill this cave..."

"It's not this sentence, it's the next sentence."

"Um, buy ten truckloads of cabbages?"

"Yes, this is it, buy it!"

Ivan smiled knowingly.

"black market."

Chapter 114 Clues

What comes to mind when you think of the black market?

Underground transactions, double-crossing, the gray area?

Ivan was thinking of the Stone Gate murder case.

The astonishing case that Ivan and his companions encountered when they first entered Liyue.

The people connected to the black market weren't the crazed murderers who killed their own relatives, but rather the treasure-hunting gangs that were hunting them down.

Ivan remembered hearing the murderer mention during his interrogation that the hoarding group was collecting Destruction Stones throughout Teyvat because someone was offering a high price for them on the Liyue Black Market.

The clues connected instantly.

The hidden demon god wants to release the other demon gods again, which requires a large number of Destruction Stones, and the way to obtain them is to buy them from the black market at a high price.

Where did the money come from?

Of course, it's the Fools.

......

Inside the president's office of the Northern Bank, the young master was waiting.

Shortly after, footsteps were heard outside the door, and Bank Manager Yaz rushed in with a report in his hand.

The young master raised an eyebrow and asked, "How was it?"

Yaz nodded and said, "There are indeed problems with the financial reporting, and they are huge. In the past month, the bank has incurred a total of 1.08 billion Mora in expenditures, but there is no record of such a large amount in the accounts. The accounting supervisor in charge of the accounting has not come to work for the past two days."

Yaz looked rather grim. The bank had encountered such a major problem, and this was his responsibility as the bank's president.

The young master frowned and said, "I understand. You may go now. Remember to double-check the accounts several times to avoid any discrepancies."

Yaz wiped his sweat and said, "Okay."

After Yaz left, the young master thought for a moment, got up and left the Northern Bank, heading straight to the Wanghaige Inn to find Ivan.

“There are indeed problems with the accounts of the Northern Bank.”

Ivan tapped the table with his finger as he said, "It seems the lady took all that money to the black market to buy the Stone of Destruction. Has she contacted you in the last couple of days?"

The young master shook his head and said, "A few days ago, the lady urged the manufacture of the 'Unfettered Talisman,' but there has been no news of her in the past two days. I can't find her either, and the supervisor who falsified her accounts has also disappeared."

Ivan frowned and began to think.

Although all the clues have been connected, several key figures have disappeared without a trace, so it seems we have to change our approach.

"Please take your men and search for the Treasure Raiders throughout Liyue. They should still be collecting the Stone of Destruction. Once you find any members of the Treasure Raiders, try to get information out of them about the people they traded with on the black market."

The young master nodded and said, "Alright."

After the young master left, Ivan immediately sent someone to contact Ningguang, and Ningguang arrived at the inn shortly afterward.

Upon entering Ivan's room, Ningguang hurriedly asked, "Have you discovered traces of the Demon God?"

Ivan nodded. In order to avoid Ningguang suspecting the Fools and thus hindering the young master's actions, Ivan omitted the lady's part and explained the whole story.

After listening, Ningguang frowned and said, "I did receive information that the Stone of Destruction was sold on the black market, but I didn't connect it to the Demon God, so I didn't investigate further. I didn't expect to have a clue revealed here..."

Ivan said, "I've told you most of the information I've gathered. Now it's up to you."

Ningguang's eyes turned cold, radiating a chilling aura of someone in a superior position.

"Do not worry."

......

Qingce Village.

In front of Ma Sanshui's house.

A group of Qianyan soldiers stood outside the courtyard wall and set up a cordon. Many villagers stood outside the cordon, whispering and discussing among themselves.

Team leader Song Ke came out of the house with a furrowed brow.

Today, while leading his patrol team through Qingcezhuang, he suddenly received a report from a villager that Ma Sanshui, a villager from Qingcezhuang, had been kidnapped.

Song Ke immediately led a team to Ma Sanshui's home to investigate. However, after looking around, there were no signs of a struggle inside the house. The furniture and chairs were neatly arranged, and no valuables were missing. It didn't seem like he had been kidnapped; it seemed more like he had simply disappeared on his own.

Song Ke walked up to the crowd and asked an elderly man over seventy years old, "Village chief, how did Ma Sanshui disappear? Could you tell me the details?"

The old village chief leaned on his cane and thought for a moment, then turned around and called out, "Xiaoyue, I remember you were the one who discovered it first, right? Tell the officer what happened."

The girl called Xiaoyue walked over timidly and bowed to Song Ke: "Good morning, sir."

"Don't be so reserved. You were the first to notice that Ma Sanshui is missing, right? Can you tell me the details?"

Xiaoyue nodded and said, "Ma Sanshui is in his forties and is a bachelor. He is the only person in our village who knows how to grind tofu. Everyone in our village comes to him when they need to grind tofu. This morning, I took some beans to his house to look for him, but I found that his gate was wide open and he was gone. Ma Sanshui rarely goes out and only moves around in the village. I asked many people, and everyone said they hadn't seen Ma Sanshui for several days. I felt something was wrong, so I ran to tell the village chief."

After listening to Xiaoyue's words, Song Ke seemed to be thinking. Just as Song Ke was about to ask further, an older woman next to him suddenly spoke up.

"No need to think about it, they must have been kidnapped."

The woman's words immediately drew agreement from many others. Song Ke, curious, asked, "Are you sure you're kidnapping them?"

The old woman said, "This isn't the first time someone has gone missing here. In more than ten villages around Qingce Village, people have been disappearing inexplicably recently. There are men and women, young and old. In our village, besides Ma Sanshui, there are several others. Everyone says that these people have been kidnapped."

Song Ke raised an eyebrow; this wasn't the first missing person case.

"You said there are several more in the village? Can you take me to see them?"

A few hours later, Song Ke emerged from the last house in the village where a missing person case had occurred, his expression grave.

After asking around, Song Ke discovered that all the missing people seemed to have disappeared suddenly, as if they had vanished into thin air, leaving no trace whatsoever.

"Could it really be the work of a kidnapping gang?"

Song Ke found it difficult to draw a conclusion.

Currently, there are no leads or clues in any of the missing persons cases, and there is simply no way to investigate them. The only thing we know is that these cases were definitely committed by the same group of people.

Afterwards, Song Ke traveled to several nearby villages to investigate missing persons cases in other villages, and the situations were basically the same.

Since there was no way to investigate, Song Ke decided to send a message by carrier pigeon to Liyue Harbor to report the matter to his superiors.

Watching the carrier pigeon fly from his hand into the sky towards Liyue Harbor, Song Ke frowned. He had a premonition that this series of disappearances was probably not simple...